The government made 199 requests for information on 218 Facebook accounts during the first half of this year, information supplied by the social media giant shows.

In its biannual report on the number of requests for information on content by governments around the world, Facebook noted that the authorities in Malta asked for data on 218 users or accounts between January and June. The figure is notably higher than that during the same period last year, when information on 161 users or accounts was requested.

The Malta government made 199 requests for information in the period under review. Eleven of them were considered to be “emergency requests” and the remaining 188 were related to “legal processes”.

The so-called emergency requests are made by law enforcement officers through an online system in cases that could involve imminent harm to a child or when a person is perceived as being in immediate danger. The number was also up when compared to the same period last year, when six such requests were submitted.

According to Facebook, 66 per cent of the requests by the government were upheld and it accordingly produced some data.

“Facebook responds to government requests for data in accordance with applicable law and our terms of service. Each and every request we receive is carefully reviewed for legal sufficiency and we may reject or require greater specificity on requests that appear overly broad or vague,” the social media site said.

The government also asked Facebook to preserve one account, a process used to obtain a temporary snapshot of the relevant account information. The platform said it only provided such information when a “formal and valid legal process” was presented.

According to Facebook, governments that asked for data about users tended to request basic subscriber information, such as name and duration of service. They could also ask for IP address logs or account content

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